


Sound of Settling

by Goodnight_Burrito33



Series: Harry Potter and his Daemon [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Daemons, Hogwarts Second Year, One Shot, Ron Weasley is a Good Friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 08:35:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10940847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goodnight_Burrito33/pseuds/Goodnight_Burrito33
Summary: 3rd in a Collection of snap shots/Drabbles set in the Daemon Alternate Universe :In the middle of their 2nd year at Hogwarts, Nelvara’s form settles and Harry just about wants to die.





	Sound of Settling

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you guys for reading! I'm having a lot of fun writing this. 
> 
> Unbetaed, sorry for mistakes :)

It’s the well past midnight when Harry awakes to Nel whispering his name. He lifts his head from his pillow and gazes drowsily at her before fumbling for his glasses. When she comes into focus, it takes him a moment in the dark dormitory to realize that she’s coiled on his pillow in the form of a shiny black snake. With the little bit of moonlight coming through the window he can see that when she moves some of her scales shine blue. “Nel?” he whispers.

“This is it,” she whispers back, flicking her tail. 

“You’re settled?” he asks and she nods her head. 

Harry sighs deeply and there’s silence between them. “I’m sorry,” Nel hisses softly coiling up tight around herself. Her ‘s’s have become long and gentle, not like the harsh sounds that come from parseltongue. It makes Harry feel a little bit better about the whole situation.

Harry reaches out his hand to pet her head. Her scales are surprisingly soft; he thinks maybe even softer than her fur had ever been. “It’s not your fault” he amends. “The twins are going to have a field day with this… and Malfoy… the whole school.” Nel uncurls and slithers closer to their cheeks are touching. 

“Ron and Leal are gonna be jealous,” Nel says and they both glance towards Ron’s bed, where he is snoring quietly. Harry nods and his heart drops a little. Maybe he would be able to survive school in the morning if Ron had been on his side. Ron and Harry were two of the last 2nd years to have their daemon’s settle and Ron was bitter about it to say the least. Hermione had returned to school in September with a settled daemon; one of the firsts in their year. Kenway had taken the final form of a Raccoon. 

In the common room after the welcoming feast the other 2nd year girls had gathered around Hermione in a twittering clump asking her about what it was like, and what it felt like. Harry and Ron had sat separately from them, and Ron was actively scoffing at them. “You know; I don’t know why they keep asking her about it. Fred and George said settling doesn’t feel like anything,” he had said as Ginny slid up to them, deliberately not looking at Harry. 

“They aren’t talking about Kenway settling you idiot,” she said, her cheeks heating up. 

“Well what are they talking about?” Ron retorted. 

Ginny just shook her head and marched away, huffing “Dunderhead,” under her breath.

Ron had looked at Harry in expatriation. “What in the world is she talking about?” Harry had a clue, but he didn’t fancy explaining it to Ron, so it was safer just to shrug and let him stew. 

Among the returning 2nd years to have settled was Draco Malfoy, who had predictably been horrible to her at breakfast on the first morning. Malfoy and his cronies had swagger over to the Gryffindor table and made several unsavory remarks about the nature of Raccoons before smirking and leading Crabbe and Goyle triumphantly away. Ron was pink with anger, Hermione however had not looked up from her copy of Year with a Yeti. Under the Table Leal was in the form of a and growly, her hackles raised. Kenway hushed her, “Ignore him,” the daemon said gently to the angry dog. 

“Kenway is right,” Hermione said, closing her book and looking up at the boys. “He’s just upset about Adalbrechta,” she said, pulling her plate and munching a piece of jam toast. At the boy’s confused looks her rolls her eyes and swallows before continuing. “You know, his Daemon, Adalbrechta. God you two are slow. She settled this summer as a pine martin. I heard a couple slytherin talking about it and apparently his father was really upset,” Hermione said the last bit in a whisper before pushing her plate away and gathering up her books. “Anyways, Kenway and I were always worried he’d settle as something without hands,” she gathered her book bad and the raccoon in her arms. “It would be terrible to have to turn the pages for him. You two better hurry up, you can’t be late on the first day of classes.” 

Nearly every night since that day Ron and Leal had sat on their four-poster bed with the drapes drawn and went through forms. Harry only knew because he’d accidently walked in on them. Ron swore Harry to secrecy because of course if the Twins ever found out, they would have a field day. Nel had wanted to suggest that they try dog forms, but Harry had decided against that. It would just upset Ron more. Hermione thought that Leal hadn’t settled yet because he was denying the inevitable, but like Harry she hadn’t dared say that to him. 

In the dark of the dorm room though, Ron’s problems where a million miles away. “Everyone already thinks I’m Slytherin’s Heir,” Harry says, rolling onto his back. Nel is resting against his ear, and he thinks that he can almost hear her heart beating, but it just might be his own. 

“I’m sorry,” she repeats, and after a moments pause continues. “Hermione will know what to do.” She says it as if there is a cure to settling. 

“Hermione will know,” he echo’s and closes his eyes even though he’s not tired at all. 

He must have fallen asleep at some point because what feels like a second later Harry his woken up by a sudden burst of light as Ron opens the heavy curtains over the windows. Harry grumbles and sits up, rubbing his eyes. “Sorry mate, Hermione’s orders. She said you can’t hide up here all day just because of a few dumb rumors.” It’s a Sunday so Harry could absolutely hide up here all day, but his stomach grumbles and the morning sun is very bright in his eyes, so he slides out of bed and gets dressed. Leal is perched on the headboard of Ron’s bed. Harry wonders idly if there’s a subconscious reason Leal spends so much time as a bird, he bets that’s what Ron hopes she’ll settle as. Suddenly Harry remembers why he should hide in the dorm and he glances towards the bed where Nel’d head is poking out from under his pillow. Ron and Leal are looking at her too. “You know,” Ron says, “If you go out like that Nel Fred and George aren’t going to be able to contain themselves.” 

Nel slithers out with and indignity gleam in her eye and stretches up into the air. All in all she’s about the length of Harry’s forearm. “For your information Ronald, I don’t have a choice,” she hisses, her tongue flicking angrily.   
Ron blinks slowly between Nel and Harry before bursting into laughter. “Are you sure you’re not the heir Harry?” he says when he gets his breath back. The way he’s smiling tells Harry that it’s a joke, but he’s not really in the mode for jokes. “Sorry, it’s just, I mean, of course this would happen to you,” Ron amends, and stands up. “Well, we can’t keep Hermione waiting.” 

“What?” Harry says and crosses his arms over his chest defiantly. “I’m not going outside today, are you crazy. People aren’t going to shut about Nel or of the heir garbage.” 

“Look mate, the way I see it, you can stay up here forever and starve, or you can come eat with Leal, Kenway, Hermione and me, and after ‘moine will go to the library and dig up everything she can about snakes being great, and that’ll settle that,” he and Leal wait before Harry’s stomach growled. “Even heirs of Slytherinshave to eat,” he points out, and Harry feels his lips twitching into a smile. 

“Yeah… well can’t deprive Hermione of a research opportunity can I? That would just be cruel,” He says and Ron laughs. 

“That the spirit, come on then, I’m starved,” and Leal leads the way out the open door, and down the stairs to the common room. Harry follows, Nel wrapped around his neck, like a scale scarf, and he feels a little bit guilty for thinking Ron would be jealous and a lot thankful that he was wrong.

**Author's Note:**

> Daemons in this Fic:
> 
> Harry - Nelvara (Nel). Snake  
> Ron - Leal. Unsettled  
> Hermione - Kenway. Raccoon  
> Draco - Adalbrechta - pine martin


End file.
